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Google Zeitgeist: Spirit of the Times

Posted on 12/27/2010

Michael Jackson has been dethroned by Justin Bieber—at least on Google where more people searched Bieber’s name than any other celebrity in 2010. Last year Jackson topped the list. Each year Google releases Zeitgeist, which literally translated means spirit of the times. It reveals what people searched for across the globe. If you’re into trends, you probably already know the list and probably contributed to the statistics. But for others, here’s what people searched on Google in 2010.

Global events of 2010 topping Google’s list were the World Cup of soccer, the Winter Olympics, the Haiti earthquake, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the ash cloud of Iceland. Google Zeitgeist let’s you see a month-by-month, country-by-country comparison of those searches. In all, Google Zeitgeist provides analysis of 55 countries.

In America, iPad topped the list overall while the oil spill was the top news search. Americans searched images for Jersey Shore, Kesha and Justin Bieber. They looked at maps for the World Cup, Eiffel Tower and Hearst Castle—Einstein Bros. Bagels came in fourth. Apparently, people needed air this year as the top product searches after the iPad were for air compressors and air conditioners. Canadians searched for iPad, World Cup and Vancouver 2010. Nicki Minaj topped the list for entertainers. Justin Bieber came in third after Glee.

What can small business owners take from Zeitgeist? Probably not as much as using the Google Adwords Tool (Google it) where you can enter keywords that you think pertains to your business and analyze how many users are searching those words. But Google Zeitgeist is certainly a spirit of our times. View the Google Zeitgeist video at http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist2010/#review and have a Happy New Year.